Happy New Year everyone.

I’d like to propose a group resolution this year. Let’s see if we can make 2009 more interesting and engaging. Here’s an interesting post by Steve Roesler about spending less time lecturing and more time in discussion and activity. This is great advice for a trainer/speaker, but also for anyone who works with groups of people.

For the most part people tend to be most engaged when they are actively participating in the discussion. I’ve written about this before in my article for Practicing magazine about why meetings fail. By my estimate over 95% of corporate meetings follow the large group discussion format. Only 1 person speaks at a time. Everyone else listens. In most groups only a few people occupy all the airspace. The rest are disengaged. Read my article for suggestions on how to switch that.

Even in social settings this applies. Last night I was at a small gathering with a handful of friends. I noticed that when there was only one conversation going a few people didn’t really talk. They disengaged. So I broke off a side conversation with them. They became animated and energized.

Whether you are speaking to a large group, running a meeting, or just hanging out with friends, let’s all spend 2009 helping one another be a little more engaged. All it takes is some little discussions.